I use PaintShop Pro for most of my fun graphics.
It's a user friendly program, which is very reasonably priced.
You can download a Trial version and see how you like it.



http://www.jasc.com/

The Jasc site is filled with helpful information and Tutorials.
There are many PSP Tutorials on the web also
and some Classes you can take to get you started.
Use http://www.google.com to locate the tutorials you wish to do.